Wed December 25, 2013

Milwaukee Hopes Cheese Brine Is Cheap Road De-Icer

Good morning, I'm David Greene. Wisconsin knows this well: When you make more than two billion pounds of cheese a year, it creates the salty byproduct - cheese brine. Normally you discard it, but folks in Milwaukee had an idea. Why not use that salty stuff to de-ice roads? Local officials are especially excited about provolone and mozzarella with their high salt content. The city hopes more cheese brine and less rock salt will be cheaper and better for the environment, even if it means holding our noses. You're listening to MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.